Sinclair opened the 2011 season with an 8-5 victory over Urbana University Tuesday night. Last year's OCCAC Pitcher of the Year Jeremiah Kerns started the game by striking out the side in the top of the first. Kerns would finish with six strikeouts in two + innings of work. In the bottom of the first, leadoff hitter Steve Buglione singled and stole second base before scoring on Byron Johann's double. The Pride did not score again until the fourth inning when Brandon Napier tripled in the gap of Grady's Field, and Marcus Heath followed with an RBI double to make it a 4-2 contest in favor of Urbana. Sinclair closed that gap in the fifth when Buglione hit his first career collegiate homerun, a leadoff blast over the right field fence to make it 4-3. Trailing 5-4 going into the bottom of the seventh, Marcus Heath tied things up with his first collegiate homerun and would take the lead later in the inning by way of a Chas Harper RBI double. Sinclair would go on to score two more in the eighth inning to extend their lead to three runs. Offensively the Pride hitters had 17 hits on the night. Christian McElroy picked up his first win of the season going 1 2/3 innings with four strikeouts, and Pride closer Matt Addis recorded his first save of the year with two strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings.